COVID vaccine selfies provide needed dose of hope
- Bryan Walsh, author of Axios Future
Bryan Walsh's parents after getting their first COVID-19 vaccine dose. Photo: Bryan Walsh's mother
People are lighting up social media with COVID-19 vaccination selfies.
Why it matters: After a long, hard year with COVID-19, vaccine selfies offer a much-needed dose of hope — and act as an advertisement for those on the fence about getting vaccinated.
What's happening: About 54 million people in the U.S. have gotten at least one COVID-19 vaccination shot, and you could be forgiven for thinking that nearly all of them are on your social media feed.
- Some vaccination sites have even begun setting up specific stations for post-shot selfies.
What they're saying: Vaccine selfies are a "sign that we just might be able to get things together again," journalist Maya Kosoff wrote in the Washington Post this week.
The other side: Some critics argue it's bad form to post vaccine selfies, given both the sheer number of people who have died from COVID-19 and the fact that distribution of the vaccine is still wildly unequal.
- And it's definitely a bad idea to include your vaccination card in any vaccine selfie you post online, as it could expose you to identity theft.
Yes, but: As manufacturing ramps up, the challenge around vaccine distribution will move from one of supply to one of demand.
- New survey data from Pew Research Center indicates 69% of the U.S. public intends to get vaccinated or already has.
- That's up significantly from 60% in November, but it still leaves a large chunk of the country — especially white Republicans — who need to be convinced.
- Given that fact, vaccine selfies seem less like showing off on social media than playing a pro-social part in normalizing vaccination.
The bottom line: Whatever you do after you get your vaccine, you'll have a hard time beating Gurdeep Pandher, who posted a video of himself dancing Bhangra in the Yukon after receiving his first dose.